“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.” Shakespeare’s words in his comedy, “As You Like It,” have been quoted time and time again, used to compare the world to a play and people as the actors. Over 400 years after it was originally written, this soliloquy still rings true in many minds today. The entire play has also withstood that length of time as a favorite of actors and audiences alike.
Lydia Mackay, a third-year graduate acting student at Meadows School of the Arts, will play the female lead, Rosalind, in the production of “As You Like It” at WaterTower Theatre in Addison. The production is a partnership between WaterTower Theatre Company and the Meadows Theatre Department. The alliance is just one of several opportunities the Meadows Theatre Department offered their students this year to work with theater companies in the surrounding area.
WaterTower Theatre is the resident theater company at the Addison Theatre Centre. The company itself is in its 12th season and has earned many local awards for its work.
This is Mackay’s fourth show with WaterTower. “Working at WaterTower is always a whirlwind blast,” she says.
For Mackay, who graduates in May, “As You Like It” was a great opportunity and experience.
“Rosalind is a role that I’ve always wanted to play, because I really wanted to challenge myself and because I love the play,” she said.
“For me to have the chance to do it in my final semester at SMU really means a lot because it’s the culmination of my work as an actress over the last two and a half years.”
The entire play is filled with disguises and lovers’ mishaps. Rosalind, the daughter of a banished duke, falls in love with Orlando, the son of one of the duke’s friends. When she is banished from the court by her uncle, Rosalind disguises herself as a boy and calls herself Ganymede, promising character confusion and romantic entanglement.
WaterTower’s Terry Martin, artistic director of the production, said that “As You Like It” possesses a charismatic pair of young lovers, the excitement of political intrigue and bawdy physical humor.
“In addition,” he said, “the play contains some of Shakespeare’s most beautiful love poetry and most poignant philosophical concepts.”
Martin and the company put a different spin on this particular production by setting it in the American South in the 1950s. The production will also feature live music. Five other SMU students are part of the cast, including Lauren Hayden, Karoline Kuss, Olu Sonubi, Matt Tallman and Ariel Woodiwiss.
“As You Like It” opens tonight at WaterTower Theatre (part of the Addison Theatre Centre) and runs through Feb. 10. Performances are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $22 for adults and $19 for seniors and students. For tickets call 972-450-6232 or visit watertowertheatre.org.
